Double acting door hinge

ABSTRACT

THIS DISCLOSURE RELATES TO A DOOR HINGE FOR A CABINET AND THE LIKE TO PERMIT FLUSH MOUNTING IF THE DOOR WITHIN THE CABINET AND TO PERMIT ROTATION OF THE DOOR ABOUT AN ANGLE OF 180* WITH RESPECT TO THE CABINET. ONE END OF THE HINGE IS CONCEALED WITHIN THE DOOR AND SUPPORTS THE DOOR THROUGH A HINGE PIN WHICH IS FIXED TO THE DOOR. AT THE HINGE PIN, THE HINGE EXTENDS AT AN ACUTE ANGLE AWAY FROM THE DOOR AND AWAY FROM THE A SLOT N THE DOOR THROUGH WHICH SLOT THE HINGE PROJECTS TO PERMIT ROTATION OF THE DOOR RELATIVE ON THE HINGE PIN THROUGH AB ANGLE GREATER THAN 90* THE HINGE IS SUPPORTED AT THE OTHER END THROUGH A SECOND   HINGE PIN WHICH IS FIXED WITHIN THE CABINET FRAME. A VERTICAL ROD WITHIN THE FRAME TO ALL HINGES AT ONE SIDE OF THE DOOR SO THAT ALL HINGES MOVE IN UNISON.

Nov. 16, 1971 Filed Jan. 13, 1969 F. F. MERRILL DOUBLE ACTING DOOR HINGE FIG.

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United States Patent 3,619,853 DOUBLE ACTING DOOR HINGE Frederick F. Merrill, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to Steelcase, Ine., Grand Rapids, Mich. Filed Jan. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 790,536 Int. Cl. Ed 3/06 US. Cl. 16164 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a door hinge for a cabinet and the like to permit flush mounting of the door within the cabinet and to permit rotation of the door about an angle of 180 with respect to the cabinet. One end of the hinge is concealed Within the door and supports the door through a hinge pin which is fixed to the door. At the hinge pin, the hinge extends at an acute angle away from the door and away frrom a slot in the door through which slot the hinge projects to permit rotation of the door relative to the hinge pin through an angle greater than 90. The hinge is supported at the other end through a second hinge pin which is fixed within the cabinet frame. A vertical rod within the frame is fixed to all hinges at one side of the door so that all hinges move in unison.

This invention relates to a hinge construction for cabinets and the like.

Cabinet doors are desirably flush with the front face or pilaster of the cabinet. It is also desirable that the cabinet doors swing out through a 180 angle relative to the cabinet to facilitate access to the cabinet. In order to improve the appearance of the cabinet, the hinges should be concealed with the door closed and concealed as much as possible when the doors are open.

Kahle 2,372,431 discloses a hinge which is formed from a U-sh-aped member and hinged through pins to side members. One side member is fixed to the door frame. The other side member is fixed to the door. A flange wraps around the U-shaped member and extends through the full height of the door to conceal the hinges in the door and to control the movement of all hinges in the door.

I have now discovered a new hinge construction for doors and the like, which hinge permits flush mounting of the doors within a cabinet and also permits the rotation of the door relative to the hinge through an angle of 180, the ends of the hinge being concealed within the door frame and the door, and wherein the door is easily removable from the hinges.

By various aspects of this invention one or more of the following, or other, objects can be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to provide a hinge con struction for doors and the like wherein the doors are flush within the frame of a cabinet when closed and rotatable about an angle of 180 when open, wherein the mounting means for the hinges are concealed within the door and the door frame.

It is another object of this invention to provide a hinge construction for doors in which the doors are easily removable from the hinges.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an economical hinge construction for 180 rotation of the door about the frame, which hinge construction is easy and economical to construct and install.

Other aspects, object, and the several advantages of this invention are apparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure, the drawings, and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a cabinet construction comprising a frame, a door mounted within the frame, and hinge means mounting the door within the frame such that the door is permitted to rotate through 180 relative to the frame, The door has a front face panel and an edge bent back away from the front face panel along the side of the door. A slot is formed in the edge. The frame has a front face, a jamb member extending rearwardly from the front face and a slot formed in the jamb member juxtaposed to the slot formed in the door edge. The hinge means has one end rotatably mounted within the frame and extends through the slot in the jamb member. An opposite end of the hinge extends through the slot in the door edge and is rotatably mounted behind the door edge.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a cabinet according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the cabinet shown in FIG. 1 with one of the doors in the completely open position;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along lines IV-IV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective vieW of the hinge seen in FIGS. 3 and 4; and

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along lines VI-VI of FIG. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, a cabinet 12 has a pair of doors 14 and 16. A frame or pilaster 18 is formed at the sides of the cabinet at the front portion thereof and joins side walls 20 and inwardly directed jamb flanges 22. A door frame is formed in the cabinet from inwardly directed jamb flanges 22, side frame member 24 and flange 26. A slot 28 is formed in the side frame 24. The door 16 has a front wall panel 17 and a back wall panel 30 joined by a side wall 32. A slot 34 is formed in the side wall 32 of door 16.

The door is supported by the cabinet by at least two hinges which are partially fixed within the pilaster and partially fixed within the door. Since each hinge is constructed in like manner, only one such hinge will be described.

The hinge 36 has a rounded end 38, a rearwardly extending portion 40, a laterally extending portion 42 which is parallel to the pilaster 18 as the door is closed. A forwardly disposed portion 44 extends at an angle to the plane of the front panel 17 (when the door is closed) from the laterally extending portion 42 and joins a forwardly disposed port on 46 at an angle to the door panel 17, the hinge terminating in rounded end 48. The forwardly disposed portion 46 is at approximately a angle to the forwardly disposed portion 44. The forwardly disposed portion 46 is at about a 45 angle to the door panel 17 when the door is closed (FIG. 3).

The rounded end 38 is wrapped around a hinge pin 50 and supported thereby. The hinge pin 50 is fixed to a hinge holding flange 54 which extends rearwardly at 56, laterally at 58 and rearwardy at 60. The pin holding flange is fixed to pilaster 18 and is fixed to the side frame 24 at the rearwardly extending portion 60.

The rounded end 48 wraps around a hinge pin 52. An angle support 62 (FIG. 5) is fixed to the front panel 17 and side wall 32 of door 16 and securely holds the hinge pin 52.

A stabilizer rod 64 is fixed at rearwardly extending portions 40 of each hinge so that the hinges operate as a unit. The door can have two or more hinges. Preferably, the stabilizer rod 64 would be attached to each hinge.

The door in the open position is shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. As the door begins to swing outwardly, the hinge 36 will begin to rotate about hinge pin 50. When the hinge has rotated about 45, a rib 40 of hinge 36 will strike the forward edge 70 of slot 28. At this point, the hinge 36 will cease to rotate about hinge pin 50 and the door will begin to rotate about hinge pin 52. The door will then rotate about 135 about hinge end 48 on pin 52. The door will continue to rotate on hinge pin 52 until the forward edge 68 of slot 32 strikes the forwardly extending portion 46 of the hinge 36. The door opening operation can also follow an alternate procedure of the door rotating first on pin 52 and then the hinge rotating about hinge pin 50. Further, the operation of the door opening can be a combination of these two operations.

As the door begins to close, the door 16 will begin to rotate on hinge pin 52 about the curved end 48 of hinge 36. When the rear edge 72 of slot 34 strikes the forward- 1y extending portion 44, the rotation of the door 16 on hinge pin 52 about the curved end 48 of hinge 36 will cease and the hinge will begin to rotate about hinge pin 50 until the back wall panel 30 of the door 16 strikes the cabinet cross member 74 (FIG. 2).

As seen in FIG. 5, the slot 34 is elongated so that the door can be easily removed from the hinges by simply lifting the door when the door is open. The door is lifted until the hinge pin 52 clears the curved end 48 of hinge 36. The door can then be pulled outwardly to permit the end of the hinge 36 to pass through slot 34 to thereby free the door from the hinge. Assembling the door on the hinge is easily done by the reverse procedure.

The shape of the hinge 36 permits the hinge to be positioned within the pilaster and the door. In order to position the hinge within the pilaster and within the door, the hinge must rotate through an acuate angle about the pilaster hinge pin 50. This means that the door must rotate more than 90 on the door hinge pin 52 about the curved end 48 of the hinge 36. For this purpose, the sum of the angles between the four hinge portions is greater than 180 and preferably greater than 270. In the embodiment illustrated the sum of the angles between the four hinge portions is about 315.

The forwardly extending portion 44 of the hinge 36 provides an efficient stop against the rear edge 72 of slot 34 to prevent the hinge from rotating too far into the pilaster. Should the hinge rotate further into the pilaster, the front edge of the door 16 would be positioned inwardly of plane of the pilaster 18. Without this stop, when the door swings closed, the inner edge of the door would strike the cabinet cross member and/or the back wall flange 26 of the frame to mar the surfaces.

With the hinge construction of this invention. the hinge is easily made and economical to construct. The shape of the hinge permits the ends to be concealed within the frame and the door panel while still permitting 180 rotation of the door with respect to the door frame. As illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings, even when the door is completely open the hinge presents a neat appearance with only central portions of the hinge being visible.

It will be evident from FIGS. 3 and 4 that the hinge rotates through an acuate angle about hinge pin 50. In this embodiment, the rotation of the hinge about the hinge pin 50 is approximately 45. Additionally, it will be observed that the rotation of the door about the other end of the hinge is greater than 90 and is in the order of 135. The 135 rotation of the door with respect to the end of the hinge is permitted by the design of the hinge in which forwardly disposed portions 46 of the hinge extends away from the door panel 16 at an acuate angle and away from the slot 34 of the door side edge 32.

Further, with the construction of the hinge, the stabilizer rod 64 can be positioned within the door frame and concealed from view. Thus, the rod can be of simple construction and need not be elaborate for appearance .purposes.

Reasonable variations and modification are possible within the scope of the foregoing disclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive propert or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.

1. A hinge for rotatably supporting a swingable member on a support so as to permit 180 rotation of said swingable member on said support wherein a portion of said hinge is concealed within said swingable member and a portion of said hinge is concealed within said support member at least in one extreme position of said swingable member on said support member; said hinge comprising first, second, third, and fourth integral portions, angularly disposed with relation to each other; said first portion and said second portion being disposed substantially perpendicular to each other; said third and fourth portions being disposed substantially perpendicular to each other; and said second portion being disposed at an oblique angle to said third portion.

2. A cabinet construction having a door and a frame, hinge means mounting said door to said frame such that said door is permitted to rotate through at least 180 degrees relative to said frame, the improvement which comprises: said door having a front face, and an edge extending rearwardly from said front face; a slot formed in said edge; said frame having a front face, and a jamb extending rearwardly from said front face of said frame; a slot for-med in said jamb juxtaposed to said slot in said door edge; said hinge means having a jamb end rotatably mounted within said frame and extending through said slot with in said jamb; and said hinge means having a door end rotatably mounted within said door, extending through said door slot and joined with said jamb end; one of said door and jamb ends having a portion thereof extending away from the front face of the member in which it is rotatably mounted and at an acute angle thereto and in a direction generally away from said other end whereby said member housing said acute angle portion is permitted to rotate relative to said hinge through an angle greater than degrees.

3. The device of claim 2 in which said acute angle portion of said hinge is at said door end.

4. A cabinet construction according to claim 2 wherein said acute angle is less than 75.

5. A cabinet construction according to claim 2 wherein said acute angle is about 45.

6. A cabinet construction having a door and a frame, hinge means mounting said door to said frame such that said door is permitted to rotate through degrees relative to said frame, the improvement which comprises: said door having a front face, and an edge extending rearwardly from said front face; a slot formed in said edge; said frame having a front face and a jamb extending rearwardly from said front face of said frame; a slot formed in said jamb juxtaposed to said slot in said door edge; said hinge means having one end rotatably mounted within said frame and extending through said slot within said jamb; said hinge means having an opposite end rotatably mounted within said door and extending through said slot in said door edge whereby the ends of said hinge means are hidden from view at all times; said door also comprising a back panel extending parallel to said front face from the back of said edge, and away from said jamb of said frame; said slot in said door extending into said back panel and forming a stop with a forwardly extending portion of said hinge so as to limit the rotation of said door relative to said hinge toward said cabinet when said door is closed.

7. A cabinet construction having a door and a frame, hinge means mounting said door to said frame such that said door is permitted to rotate through 180 degrees relative to said frame, the improvement which comprises: said door having a front face, and an edge extending rearwardly from said front face; a slot formed in said edge; said frame having a front face and a jamb extending rearwardly from said front face of said frame; a slot formed in said jamb juxtaposed to said slot in said door edge; said hinge means having one end rotatably mounted within said frame and extending through said slot within said jamb; said hinge means having an opposite end rotatably mounted within said door and extending through said slot in said door edge whereby the ends of said hinge means are hidden from view at all times; a hinge pin fixed to said door behind said door edge and above said slot in said door edge, said hinge pin having a free end extending downwardly below the upper edge of said door slot, said door being rotatably supported on said hinge through said hinge pin; the lower edge of said door slot extending down below said hinge at least as far as said hinge pin extends below the upper edge of said door slot to permit removal of said door from said hinge by lifting said door until said pin disengages said hinge, and pulling said door outwardly from said hinge.

8. A cabinet construction according to claim 7 wherein said door is supported by two vertically spaced hinges, and bar means are fixed to and extend between each of said hinges behind said jamb member so that both of said hinges move in unison as said door is moved relative to said frame.

9. A cabinet construction having a door and a frame, hinge means mounting said door to said frame such that said door is permitted to rotate through 180 degrees relative to said frame, the improvement which comprises: said door having a front face, and an edge extending rearwardly from said front face; a slot formed in said edge; said frame having a front face and a jamb extending rearwardly from said front face of said frame; a slot formed in said jamb juxtaposed to said slot in said door edge; said hinge means having one end rotatably mounted within said frame and extending through said slot within said jamb; said hinge means having an opposite end rotatably mounted within said door and extending through said slot in said door edge whereby the ends of said hinge means are hidden from view at all times; said hinge having first, second, third and fourth angularly disposed integral portions, said first portion being rotatably mounted within said frame and said fourth portion being rotatably mounted behind said door edge; the angular disposition of said first, second, third, and fourth portions being such that when said door is closed, said first portion extends away from said front face of said frame, said second portion extends out of said jamb slot and towards said door edge and joins said third portion at an oblique angle at said door edge slot, said fourth portion extending towards said front face of said door at such an angle so as to permit rotation of said door relative to said hinge through an angle greater than degrees.

10. A cabinet construction according to claim 9 wherein said fourth portion extends toward said door front face panel at such an angle so as to permit rotation of said door relative to said hinge through an angle greater than 11. A cabinet construction according to claim 9 Wherein said fourth portion extends toward said front face panel of said door at such an angle so as to permit rotation of said door relative to said hinge through an angle of about 12. A cabinet construction according to claim 9 Wherein the sum of the angles between said first, second, third, and fourth portions is greater than 13. A cabinet construction according to claim 9 wherein the sum of the angles between said first, second, third, and fourth portions is greater than 270.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,343,810 3/1944 Schonitzer 16-191 2,284,951 6/1942 Doman 16164 1,109,003 9/1914 Martin 16--191 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner P. A. ASCHENBRENNER, Assistant Examiner 

